Do you remember the time I knew a girl from Mars? Probably not, since that Ash hit was from eons ago. But Ash frontman Tim Wheeler does remember, checking in via phone from London. "It's been such a long time since we toured the States," he says of the delay. The Irish lads last dropped pop brilliance on our shores nearly eight years ago — back when then-co-headliners the Bravery were still slotted as "the next big thing." No dice there, but Ash are still maintaining. "Friendship helps," Wheeler says of the alt-rock band's two-decade longevity. "It's different when you have a bunch of schoolmates. Also, it's all we ever wanted to do." It appears to be working; 2009 saw Ash put out a new song every two weeks, part of their now legendary A-Z Series, just out on triple vinyl. "It's one agenda, and it's been a great interaction with the fans throughout the whole year — creatively, for us, it's been a great process as well just to make that much music," Wheeler adds. More important, what of that whole Star Wars obsession the band has been forever associated with? "Empire would be my favorite, then A New Hope, then Return of the Jedi, and then maybe the last two, and the one with Jar Jar Binks — I really lost interest with that one." But you figured that already.

O'Brother | Garden Window O'Brother's bio for their debut album, Garden Window, reads in part: "Native American tradition believed taking a picture of someone also took a piece of their soul. O'Brother views this album in the same vein. It captures a piece of them at a time in their lives that they will never get back."

Dr. Dog | Be the Void With Be the Void , their sonically raw sixth album, these Philly psych-pop oddballs have pulled a fussy, self-conscious about-face, indulging in their weirdest ideas in years.

Review: Neil Young Journeys Young is old now, and in Demme's film, looking like a stubbly coot in a battered Panama hat, he's having the time of his life.

The 30-year metal reign of Tom Araya and Slayer Suicide, serial killers, Satan worship, demonic possession, hatred, violence, and depravity: succeeding as a heavy-metal band through the '80s and early '90s meant being able to withstand a gauntlet of accusations as the cause of all of society's ills.

Frightened Rabbit ready to emerge It's always annoying when a band is touted as "the next big thing," especially when they've been around pumping out great stuff for years and then suddenly everyone is talking about them like the stork dropped them off that morning — see Bon Iver winning a Best New Artist Grammy this year, five years after their debut came out.

Tame Impala | Lonerism Australia's Tame Impala make music as the Lester Bangs character describes it in Almost Famous : if and when their psychedelic rock and roll "chooses you," it begs for intimate consumption.

Interview: God save John Lydon When Sex Pistols impresario Malcolm McLaren coined the phrase "cash from chaos," he may have been describing his own filthy lucre, but for the members of rock's most explosive group, the fiduciary comeuppance was and has been eternally forthcoming.

What's F'n Next? Metz The joke's on you if you still think Canada is just our laid-back, friendly neighbor up north. Futher proof to the contrary: Toronto's METZ, who would lead you to believe that Canada is one big furious mosh pit.

WHAT'S F'N NEXT? CAVEMAN | February 20, 2013 Most people are probably sick to death of Brooklyn being a hipster's paradise where dinks with moustaches tatted on their fingers drive fixed-gear bikes to Williamsburg bars to pay $6.50 for a can of PBR.